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Take time out from football to vote – or EU will pay penalty

Several interesting things will happen in a few months. One is the European football championship in Portugal (from 12 June) another is the European Parliament election. Perhaps not too surprisingly, there is a risk that one event will get more attention than the other.

If the EU election is continuously described as something boring and useless, the turnout will be even more disastrous than in the last election.

This a point that Dana Spinant reflects well in Europa (‘How to make elections sexy: give voters a say over Europe’s top jobs’, European Voice

5-11 February). However, she overlooks the fact that our votes already have an indirect impact on the selection of the commissioners, since Parliament ratifies the appointment of the European Commission president and appoints the commissioners by a vote of confidence.

There are several other good reasons why the election can be considered ‘sexy’. Parliamentarians represent the people from their home country – surely better than being represented by a stranger?

The Parliament has gained more and more power, especially compared with its early days when it was

only an advisory body. It has

co-decision power in matters that concern all of us; environment, research, consumer protection and free movement of persons are but a

few examples.

In June, 732 individuals will be elected and we have a chance that our favoured candidate will be our representative if we use our voting rights. Consequently, Europeans are more likely to get their voice heard in the Parliament than in any other EU institution. Of course, there are a lot of things that do not work very well within Parliament, but this is no reason to consider the election unimportant.

On the contrary, only elected MEPs who are aware of the problems can change the situation, therefore it is absolutely crucial that the right people are elected.

The election is important – important enough to take a break from watching the football this summer to use our voting rights.